letters here also redresses the balance somewhat, for while Bediuzzaman concerned himself to a greater degree the last ten years of his life with social and political matters, the essence and basis of his endeavour and its main purpose and aim was the service of the Qur'an and belief through the publication and spreading of the Risale-i Nur.

• The ‘Guide for Youth’ Trial -1952

In January, 1952, Bediuzzaman went to Istanbul his first visit since he had stayed there on his way to exile twenty-seven years earlier. The previous year a number of his students at Istanbul University had had printed two thousand copies of A Guide for Youth in the new letters, as a result of which the Public Prosecutor had opened a case against Bediuzzaman. The summons came for him to attend Istanbul First Criminal Court in January ,1952. The charges, under the `elastic' Article 163 of the Criminal Code, were that A Guide for Youth was "religious propaganda, which, contrary to the principle of secularism, had been written for the purpose of adapting the state system to religious principles."
Coming from Isparta, Bediuzzaman was in court for the first hearing on 22 January ,1952. It took place on an upper floor of the Court House, which now serves as the Main Post Office. For the two months or so he was in Istanbul, Bediuzzaman stayed first in the Aksehir Palas Hotel, close to the court in Sirkeci, then he moved to the Resadiye Hotel in the Fatih district During his stay he was visited by a constant flood of visitors; hundreds of old friends and acquaintances, Risale-i Nur Students, some well-known figures, and many others, including large numbers of young people. The three court hearings -and particularly the second and third - attracted literally thousands. Once again the trial served to publicize Bediuzzaman and the Risale-i Nur movement in a way those who had instigated it can scarcely have wished.
The courtroom and corridors were filled to overflowing for the first hearing. The indictment and `experts" report were read, then Bediuzzaman was questioned. The matters with which Bediuzzaman was accused by the report in regard to A Guide for Youth demanded